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Just took delivery of "non-refurbished" CPO

Thought I would share my story since I am likely one of the first people to take delivery of a non-refurbished CPO car.

About a week ago when it seemed like several hundred cars were added to the CPO site, I made a reservation on a CPO car with higher miles that seemed like it was well priced. Not as good as some of the deals some of the people here seem to have found apparently though. I think if you have the proper expectations, you'll be very happy with the process, but don't expect a pristine and perfect car.

The car was located in Bellevue, WA, which is close enough that I would not need to have it delivered, and would save the many weeks others seemed to have to deal with. After uploading the documents they needed, I received an email from the Tesla rep who later that day sent me photos. The photo resolution wasn't great, so it wasn't all that useful realistically. The car came with a clean carfax (they told me that they don't CPO the non-clean carfax cars generally).

Anyway, less than a week later the car is ready to be delivered- maybe less but that was the first appointment. Very happy the whole process is so quick. So I picked up my car within a week of reserving, likely because it was local and because they don't refurb it much is my guess. At the delivery the rep told me that they had been spending $7000-$10,000 refurbishing each car, and Tesla couldn't keep up with the volume, was sending them out to be repaired, and couldn't turn the cars around fast enough the way they were doing it so they are now doing it this way. The car wasn't pristine as the previous CPO program would have, but still better than the regular used car treatment.

There were two dings on the hood, a scrape on the side fender that probably bothers me the most that wasn't really repaired, and a small gouge in the leather in the back seat. The car was cleaned, but there was definitely some grit in the side rails of what the center console would ordinarily be. Curious whether they were unable to vacuum the grit out or didn't try to. There were little leaf bits under the hatch, so the car was more cleaned than detailed. The door sills weren't even wiped down, which in reality would not take much time for them (or me) to do so I feel like it's the kind of thing that should not be overlooked, but I can spend the 10 minutes to do it myself. It's just indicative that the car wasn't carefully detailed Not sure if the paint was corrected as I'd expect much more paint damage for a car this old with so many miles, but there were spots missed if it was polished where I can see swirls and light scratches. The charging cables also seem used. From a few feet away, it's still a gorgeous vehicle. I'm hoping I can get the dings removed cheaply and maybe the side scrape repainted. If it were on my existing car, I'd likely ignore it but on something you just purchased, it would be nice to feel new for a while.

The tires appear to be brand new, and the wheels are also flawless. All the carpet floor mats are also brand new, likely in the frunk, as well as the carpet in the center console space. The hatch cover also appears to be new. The steering wheel actually feels new as opposed to something that has been handled for many years, which really surprised me the most. The rep said that they would NOT fix anything purely cosmetic like paint chips, but they did offer to replace a tail light that had water inside and a molding that was just barely coming off.

While I could have been happier, I was still very happy with the car at the price I paid, and wouldn't hesitate to still recommend the CPO program. The people I dealt with were all very pleasant and responsive. If it were a new car, obviously the expectations would be higher, but as a CPO it's in much better shape than you'd expect a car with that many miles to be. I'm also sure I couldn't find a used car and bring it to this condition for less money. I'd assume if I had bought used from a third party, they wouldn't even know if the car was working properly mechanically. If you are looking for perfection like I had heard the cars were before, you will likely be disappointed though.

I think I get the 2 year 100,000 mile warranty. It's a pretty high mileage car. Not comfortable sharing things like car price, that's like asking someone how much they get paid or their house costs. It was less than half original sticker (though high miles), which I haven't seen a lot of lately. Not as good a deal as the guy that got a p85 for under $40k on the same day. I would rather pay this price for the car than $7-$10k more for a more pristine car honestly, though I know not everyone feels that way. With a Tesla, I was willing to take a chance with higher mileage than I would an ICE car. I was more interested in price than how new it feels, though others may be willing to pay more for a newer feeling car. I'll likely take it to have the paint and dings fixed. The more I look at it, the less I think they had the paint corrected- likely just a previous owner that took pretty good car of the car.

Samantha was my advisor.

In a lot of ways, I consider it an upside the way they are doing things now. From the time I clicked the buy button to taking delivery was about a week, must faster than some of the stories I read here. The paint isn't perfect, but otherwise I have very little to complain about.

The idea of $10k prepepping a car - if it was in such bad condition when it was traded in, you drop the price,if its a loan car and the person returns it with dents, you charge them or their insurance. It's how the industry has worked for years.

Maybe the ex Burberry folk now in charge of selling will open a Tesla outlet store.

Not as good a deal as the guy that got a p85 for under $40k on the same day.

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I'm that guy (my avatar is one of the pictures Tesla sent me). I'll be posting my own non-refurbished CPO experience soon. As it stands, I'm weeding through paperwork and waiting for the transport up from Florida to Ohio.

I'm in the same expectations boat as you. We're paying bottom (or near the bottom) dollar for a really expensive car. As such, I expect the condition to be in-line with the price. I'm willing to somewhat disregard aesthetic condition to get to my dream car.

Oh and condition of my car is in-line with yours. Front bumper scuffs (which might come out since you can visible see the factory paint armor is still on the bumper) and road rash on 3 out of 4 of the rims. A simple repaint of the bumper and reconditioning of the wheels was worth the low cost of entry if I really want to do something about it. I at least plan on taking the car to a real detailer once I get it.

I too bought a non-refurb CPO but am still waiting for it. Should be able to pick it up Saturday although it has taken about three weeks to get it from Florida to Seattle. I know it has some curb rash and one paint scrape near a wheelwell but for about $40k for an 85 I think iot is a good deal. My bank estimated the value at over $49k.

Samanthajoy is my advisor. I put a deposit on one today, didn’t like the photos and she let me swap to another one and it looked great in photos. Hoping to get it on next few days since everything is in LA.

Thought I would share my story since I am likely one of the first people to take delivery of a non-refurbished CPO car.

About a week ago when it seemed like several hundred cars were added to the CPO site, I made a reservation on a CPO car with higher miles that seemed like it was well priced. Not as good as some of the deals some of the people here seem to have found apparently though. I think if you have the proper expectations, you'll be very happy with the process, but don't expect a pristine and perfect car.

The car was located in Bellevue, WA, which is close enough that I would not need to have it delivered, and would save the many weeks others seemed to have to deal with. After uploading the documents they needed, I received an email from the Tesla rep who later that day sent me photos. The photo resolution wasn't great, so it wasn't all that useful realistically. The car came with a clean carfax (they told me that they don't CPO the non-clean carfax cars generally).

Anyway, less than a week later the car is ready to be delivered- maybe less but that was the first appointment. Very happy the whole process is so quick. So I picked up my car within a week of reserving, likely because it was local and because they don't refurb it much is my guess. At the delivery the rep told me that they had been spending $7000-$10,000 refurbishing each car, and Tesla couldn't keep up with the volume, was sending them out to be repaired, and couldn't turn the cars around fast enough the way they were doing it so they are now doing it this way. The car wasn't pristine as the previous CPO program would have, but still better than the regular used car treatment.

There were two dings on the hood, a scrape on the side fender that probably bothers me the most that wasn't really repaired, and a small gouge in the leather in the back seat. The car was cleaned, but there was definitely some grit in the side rails of what the center console would ordinarily be. Curious whether they were unable to vacuum the grit out or didn't try to. There were little leaf bits under the hatch, so the car was more cleaned than detailed. The door sills weren't even wiped down, which in reality would not take much time for them (or me) to do so I feel like it's the kind of thing that should not be overlooked, but I can spend the 10 minutes to do it myself. It's just indicative that the car wasn't carefully detailed Not sure if the paint was corrected as I'd expect much more paint damage for a car this old with so many miles, but there were spots missed if it was polished where I can see swirls and light scratches. The charging cables also seem used. From a few feet away, it's still a gorgeous vehicle. I'm hoping I can get the dings removed cheaply and maybe the side scrape repainted. If it were on my existing car, I'd likely ignore it but on something you just purchased, it would be nice to feel new for a while.

The tires appear to be brand new, and the wheels are also flawless. All the carpet floor mats are also brand new, likely in the frunk, as well as the carpet in the center console space. The hatch cover also appears to be new. The steering wheel actually feels new as opposed to something that has been handled for many years, which really surprised me the most. The rep said that they would NOT fix anything purely cosmetic like paint chips, but they did offer to replace a tail light that had water inside and a molding that was just barely coming off.

While I could have been happier, I was still very happy with the car at the price I paid, and wouldn't hesitate to still recommend the CPO program. The people I dealt with were all very pleasant and responsive. If it were a new car, obviously the expectations would be higher, but as a CPO it's in much better shape than you'd expect a car with that many miles to be. I'm also sure I couldn't find a used car and bring it to this condition for less money. I'd assume if I had bought used from a third party, they wouldn't even know if the car was working properly mechanically. If you are looking for perfection like I had heard the cars were before, you will likely be disappointed though.

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If you are interested in getting it Detailed, Metropolitan Detail in Bellevue is well worth the cost. They also can install paint armor (some acrylic-like stuff) and they even have loaner cars - last I heard, 1 Tesla Model S and a bunch of Scion SBs.

Not comfortable sharing things like car price, that's like asking someone how much they get paid or their house costs.

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Interesting that you consider salary, housing, and cars as similar discussions. I disagree. Your house cost is public information in my state, with a searchable database and clickable map even. Car prices are usually published and even captured by google or wayback machine if you search the vin in a parking lot.

It seems more luck of the draw than customer expectation management. I've seen threads about people getting great cars and other posts where people refused delivery because the car was it bad shape. I guess now there are no guarantees so when you buy a car from Tesla you need to look at it to know the condition of the car.

FWIW, amongst my coworkers, we don't talk about our salaries but they have no issue answering the latter, if they own one, esp. if they just bought it.

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Car prices are mostly public knowledge, especially with Tesla where they sell at the list price... I think it's helpful to other forum members to disclose the information as it provides information about the current market. We'd have no problem disclosing the details when we make a purchase.

I think I get the 2 year 100,000 mile warranty. It's a pretty high mileage car. Not comfortable sharing things like car price, that's like asking someone how much they get paid or their house costs. It was less than half original sticker (though high miles), which I haven't seen a lot of lately. Not as good a deal as the guy that got a p85 for under $40k on the same day. I would rather pay this price for the car than $7-$10k more for a more pristine car honestly, though I know not everyone feels that way. With a Tesla, I was willing to take a chance with higher mileage than I would an ICE car. I was more interested in price than how new it feels, though others may be willing to pay more for a newer feeling car. I'll likely take it to have the paint and dings fixed. The more I look at it, the less I think they had the paint corrected- likely just a previous owner that took pretty good car of the car.

Samantha was my advisor.

In a lot of ways, I consider it an upside the way they are doing things now. From the time I clicked the buy button to taking delivery was about a week, must faster than some of the stories I read here. The paint isn't perfect, but otherwise I have very little to complain about.

Click to expand...

Bluhorshue:

A full blown interior & exterior detailing by a professional shop catering to high end brands, costs guys like me $275.00. Paintless dent repair costs $100 - $150 per ding based on size and location. Dealerships with volume pay far less. For a few hundred bucks (not $7,000 to 10,000) Tesla should have delivered you a car that looked virtually brand new.

But, then again, they don't care about the customer, so I'm not surprised by your experience.

I sort of took delivery of my dented "Certified" pre-owned 2014 S 85 on Tuesday from Tesla in Bellevue. 42,603 miles. $52,800. Online pictures looked great. There was a small dent in the hood that was never shown, mentioned, or otherwise disclosed to me. It's on the front of the hood so paintless repair is not an option. I guess I should have inspected the car before paying for it. Oops. The tire pressure light was on, so I left the car there. Samanthajoy was kind enough to drive it to Sodo for a diagnosis the next day. They said it needs a new tire pressure sensor. And a new drive unit. I asked for a refund. They said no. Now I am battling to get them to repair the dent. Samanthajoy says no and offered one year of free service. I said no thanks. She has promised to get me in touch with the next rung on the chain of command. I will update after I get an estimate and speak with Samanthajoy's manager. Luckily I took a picture of the car before I ever touched it.
Aarrggg! Any advice?

Sorry, I didn't write that very well. I did already take delivery. It was a soft delivery, as I left the car behind for the tire service light diagnosis. I signed all the paperwork and it is in my driveway.

Meta

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